Toolmaker to Town Hall

30 Apr 20132013-04-30T02:00:00+02:00

The Lord Mayor of Portsmouth recently returned to his early career days to see first-hand what it takes to be a modern apprentice at BAE Systems.

Once a toolmakers apprentice in the dockyard himself; the Lord Mayor was given a tour of the Apprentice Training Centre and received an inspiring presentation from some of the first year craft apprentices on what you need to make it on the course.

The apprentices then presented the Lord Mayor with a decorative coaster to commemorate his time in office that was made on the lathe during his tour.

The Lord Mayor is a keen supporter of apprenticeships and having been an engineer for many years himself it seemed fitting that he revisit the place where he started his career.

The Lord Mayor Councillor Frank Jonas said:

"I would like to thank BAE Systems for the opportunity to visit the Apprentice Training Centre. This brought back many happy memories for me as I was a Dockyard apprentice many years ago. The enthusiasm and confidence of the apprentices that I met bodes well for the future."

Liz Anderson, Chief Counsel, BAE Systems Maritime Services said:

“The Lord Mayor as an ex- apprentice himself thoroughly enjoyed his visit to the Naval Base and you can understand why as you couldn’t help but be impressed with the enthusiasm and the quality of our apprentices. These men and women are the future of our business and here in Portsmouth we have a fantastic facility which is enabling BAE Systems to deliver that future.”

The Lord Mayor listened with interest as the apprentices told him about their experiences before and during the apprenticeship. They have most recently been placing and maintaining tools of intrinsic historical value found on the Naval Base in the dockyard museum as part of their development programme. Tools that have been restored to the museum include an Engineering Stethoscope from 1920 and a set of electrical test meters from 1970.

BAE Systems Maritime Services offers a range of different opportunities including craft, technical and graduate programmes.